CUK candidate at centre of Islamophobia storm quit Labour a day before hearing on ‘bullying’ of Asian woman

Nora Mulready has drawn attention for anti-Muslim comments but has not yet stepped down – left Labour Party under similar cloud

‘Change UK’ (CUK) has stumbled from one disaster to another this week as candidates have been forced to step down after the emergence of troubling social media comments led to allegations of racism.

Candidate Nora Mulready, who has not stepped down so far, is at the centre of a storm after a number of anti-Muslim tweets were highlighted – including one validating the opinions of far-right Tommy Robinson – triggering calls from Muslim groups for her to stand down or be sacked.

Instead, Mulready dismissed the complaints as a ‘smear campaign’ – and CUK astonished commentators by backing her stance:

As recent history has shown, such a dismissal would be attacked as antisemitic – with CUK very likely among those complaining – were it made about complaints by Jewish groups.

But Ms Mulready’s position regarding Muslims and Islam is not new – the SKWAWKBOX covered many of the same tweets over a year ago, when the Sunday Times used her as a reference for allegations against the Labour Party and commentator Aaron Bastani highlighted them, comparing her to an activist with the far-right EDL:

Ms Mulready’s social media history was a matter of record for a long time before CUK selected her. That they didn’t know of it is almost beyond belief – and if true, is inexcusable.

Not just social media

Nora Mulready when still a Labour member

But Mulready’s issues were not limited to social media about Muslims – and she left the Labour Party under a similar cloud.

At the beginning of last year, when Ms Mulready was routinely being used as a ‘centrist’ voice by the BBC and other media, she was under investigation after complaints she had bullied and made false claims about a Tottenham woman Labour member of Asian background.

Ms Mulready’s case, which Labour sources said had been delayed a number of times because she insisted she could not make any of the planned hearing dates, was scheduled again to be heard at the end of January 2018 – according to Labour sources, with a warning that no further delays would be tolerated.

Mulready then went to the right-wing Daily Mail to claim that she had left Labour because of a ‘far left’ ‘takeover’, flinging bitter accusations like confetti:

However, the allegations she had avoided by quitting were not mentioned.

Nora Mulready was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of publication. CUK has been contacted for its comment.

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